The times, they are a changin'.

When Matt and I first started dating, I opened the freezer in my apartment at Clemson one day to find an M&M McFlurry with a sweet note from Matt attached to it.

Yesterday, I reached into the box of Dove Miniatures in our freezer to find this:

In case you can't read the good doctor's scrawl, it says:
"Bet you wish this was an ice cream bar! Sucka!!!"

Ahhhh. Sweet married life.

The newest member of the family...

Meet Bowman! His eyes aren't blue - that's just the flash. What a handsome boy!! He's a 7 week old yellow lab puppy, and he belongs to my brother and sister-in-law. He came over to meet Luna the other night - here are a few pictures:

Matt introducing Bowman to Luna.

I tried really hard to get a picture of them together. Luna loves taking pictures. As you can see. Bowman was not into the photo-op.

This picture cracks me up!

Welcome to the family, Bowman!

Do they make headgear for dogs?

Yes, that's a gigantic underbite.

Because we need some.

An interesting reaction.

On Friday Matt and I went to visit our good friends Tradd and Colleen, and their new baby Finn. Matt was working when Finn was born and didn't get to visit them in the hospital, so this was his first chance to meet the little guy. By the way. I think Finn has a crush on me considering the fact that he tried to nurse on me the first time I met him. (Watch out ladies!) Anyways, for those of you who don't know, my husband has been begging me for a baby for the past year or so. I'm not sure what my hold up is, I just haven't felt quite ready. So he was really excited to go see little Finn.

When we got there, we took turns holding him. When Matt held him, he liked to pat him on the head periodically. His technique centered around his pointer finger, which he kept tapping on Finn's head. (I think he was looking for the fontanel.) Anyways, it was....sweet? He also told Tradd and Colleen that he wanted to get him "riled up." They weren't too keen on this idea. For obvious reasons. It was a great visit. We didn't make him cry and we got to spend some time with the new parents!

So the interesting thing (I know, land the plane) has been Matt's reaction to meeting Finn. I think it scared him a little bit. Just the reality of the huge responsibility it is to have a baby and raise a child. I don't think he really got that before. I mean, he called Tradd to see if he wanted to go kiteboarding like a week after Finn was born.

On an unrelated note, I have an Ipod now! It's my first Apple product, aside from a $50 shuffle I bought a couple years ago. It's actually Matt's old Ipod. He got an Iphone about 6 months ago, and I just decided yesterday that I would take over ownership his Ipod. Never mind the fact that his name and telephone number are engraved into the back....it's mine!

And now I'm back! From outer space!

I still remember my high school Physics teacher. I can't remember his name, but I remember exactly what he looked like. He had this metal ball about 4 inches in diameter that he used to drop on the table right next to students' heads who had fallen asleep in his class. One day, several days before we were scheduled to take one of his legendary hard as crap tests, he made us all gather around a computer while he showed us this video to help ease our anxiety about the upcoming test. He was a great teacher.

So anyways, I'm back. It's been a while. I've been busy. Working, vacuuming Luna's hair, Christmas shopping and wrapping, vacuuming Luna's hair, driving to Tallahassee, eating a lot of pickled okra (a Christmas stocking tradition in the Mallison household), making soup, and vacuuming Luna's hair. I just finished watching The Hangover (which was just as funny the second time around) and eating about 12 Dove Promise Squares (dark chocolate) and 7 Milkyway Midnight Miniatures.

I don't have a lot to write about at this juncture, but I have been feeling like a blogging slacker, so here we are. Here are a couple pictures I've taken over the last month or so:

Luna on her new bed. It's a hand-me-down, circa 1985 if you can't tell by the jean cover. Sadly, Luna destroyed her old bed with the help of a willing accomplice while she was being kept by a friend. She loves this new bed though, it's much bigger than her old one. Santa was a Christmas present from the Crumpler's two dogs, Tucker and Chloe.

I am kind of obsessed with making soup in the Winter. This is a homemade tomato soup that I thought was pretty good. Oh, and fancy grilled cheese.

Matt with the dogs up at the lake.

Sweetie! I bought him this shirt, which at first he didn't like. Then he decided he did like it, and wore it for 4 days straight.

I'm working at the Chick-fil-A hiring "facility" tomorrow. I say "facility" because it is actually a construction trailer. The first one we had was literally the size of our bathroom. They brought us a bigger one on Wednesday. We were really looking forward to moving into it, until we actually saw the thing. No lie, it looked like a band of homeless people had been living it it. It was TERRIBLE. When I saw it I actually wanted to stay with our bathroom-sized office. Hopefully my co-workers have made it a little more homey since I last saw it on Wednesday. I was too preoccupied with disinfecting everything inside to have time to run out for a rug or a welcome mat or something. Yikes.

Hey friends, thanks for all the Christmas cards. We obviously didn't get around to sending any this year but we really enjoyed receiving yours and looking at your faces on our fridge!